This Day in Sports History: Sept. 25 — A Surgery That Changed Baseball
One of Sept. 25’s most consequential sports moments happened far from a cheering crowd. In 1974, Dr. Frank Jobe reconstructed a torn ligament in Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Tommy John’s left elbow, attempting to save a career that appeared to be over. The operation became known as Tommy John surgery, changing what an injured pitcher could hope to achieve. On this date in 2026, that medical breakthrough shares an anniversary with remarkable comebacks, an Olympic triumph and a city’s emotional football homecoming.
The timeline begins nine years before John’s operation, with a pitcher whose career already spanned generations. On Sept. 25, 1965, Satchel Paige started for the Kansas City Athletics against the Boston Red Sox at age 59, becoming the oldest player to appear in a major league game. He faced 10 batters over three scoreless innings and allowed only one hit, a double by Carl Yastrzemski. Paige retired Boston in order in the second and third innings before leaving to a standing ovation.
The appearance was more than an age-defying novelty. Paige had spent much of his career in the Negro Leagues while segregation kept Black players out of the American and National leagues. He finally joined Cleveland in 1948. For St. Louis-area fans, he also carried a familiar connection: Paige pitched for the Browns from 1951 through 1953 and made two American League All-Star teams. His Kansas City farewell offered another demonstration of the skill that had endured long after his prime.
On Sept. 25, 1974, John faced a different obstacle to extending a pitching career. Jobe used a tendon from John’s right wrist to reconstruct the damaged ligament in his throwing elbow. There was no established comeback path for John to follow. He missed the entire 1975 major league season while recovering and rehabilitating his arm.
The outcome gave the procedure its lasting importance. John returned in 1976 and won 10 games, then recorded his first 20-win season in 1977 as the Dodgers reached the World Series. The former Chicago White Sox left-hander ultimately pitched 14 seasons after the operation and finished with 288 career victories. What began as an uncertain effort to preserve one pitcher’s livelihood established a new possibility for treating a potentially career-ending injury.
On Sept. 25, 2000, Cathy Freeman delivered the defining home-country victory of the Sydney Olympics. The Australian sprinter won the women’s 400 meters in 49.11 seconds, ahead of Jamaica’s Lorraine Graham and Britain’s Katharine Merry. Freeman pulled away over the closing stretch, turning an evening of enormous expectations into an Olympic gold medal. The result was decisive: Graham finished in 49.58 and Merry in 49.72.
Freeman had already occupied a central place in those Games by lighting the Olympic cauldron at the opening ceremony. Her victory gave that symbolic role a competitive achievement to match. As an Aboriginal Australian competing before her home crowd, she became a focus of national pride and discussion about reconciliation with Indigenous Australians. The race’s significance reached beyond the finishing order: The athlete entrusted with opening the Games had met the pressure of their biggest stage.
A year later, Sept. 25 brought news with particular resonance for Illinois basketball fans. Michael Jordan announced his return to the NBA in 2001, this time with the Washington Wizards rather than the Chicago Bulls. At 38, he was beginning another playing chapter after a second retirement. Washington signed him to a two-year contract, making the announcement a commitment to compete rather than a ceremonial return.
The announcement also came just two weeks after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Jordan pledged his first season’s playing salary to relief efforts for victims. His return therefore carried two distinct stories: a celebrated basketball player choosing to test himself again, and a public commitment to assist people affected by a national tragedy.
On Sept. 25, 2005, Fernando Alonso secured his first Formula One drivers’ championship by finishing third in the Brazilian Grand Prix. Juan Pablo Montoya won the race, with McLaren teammate Kimi Raikkonen second, but Alonso’s finish for Renault was enough to settle the championship with two races remaining. Winning the season mattered more than winning that afternoon.
At 24, Alonso became Formula One’s youngest world champion at the time. His breakthrough helped end the era of championship dominance associated with Michael Schumacher and Ferrari. It also proved to be more than a single exceptional season: Alonso successfully defended his drivers’ title in 2006 against Schumacher, establishing himself as a leading figure in the sport’s next chapter.
The final stop is Sept. 25, 2006, when the New Orleans Saints returned to the Superdome following Hurricane Katrina. In their first game there since the stadium had served as an emergency shelter, the Saints defeated the Atlanta Falcons 23-3. Early in the first quarter, Steve Gleason blocked a punt that Curtis DeLoatch recovered for a touchdown, producing the homecoming’s signature play.
This was no ordinary regular-season victory. A damaged stadium had reopened, and the team was playing before its home fans again. Under new coach Sean Payton and newly signed quarterback Drew Brees, the Saints would advance to their first NFC championship game that season, losing to the Chicago Bears. But the September homecoming had its own significance: Before New Orleans could celebrate that playoff run, it could celebrate having football back in the Superdome.
